More About Kenya

Hunger and the threat of malnutrition are becoming the daily
reality for millions of people in East Africa. A lack of rainfall and rising
food prices are increasingly straining their food supply, CRS staff members in
the region are reporting.

"Rains last fall failed completely," says CRS
Africa Team Leader Brian Gleeson. "And spring rains earlier this year were
erratic and weak. As a result, farmers have experienced horrible harvests and
pastoralists are seeing their livestock dying off."

East Africa Drought Fact Sheet

CRS and partners are ramping up a response that will help 1 million people avoid malnutrition and even starvation. Learn more.

This drought—it's been one of the driest years in the region
since 1950-1951—has combined with increased food costs to put 10 million people
across the Horn of Africa in need of humanitarian assistance. Most live in
Kenya and Ethiopia, countries where CRS has worked for decades.

Many CRS programs in these countries have been focusing on
water and agriculture over the past several months to alleviate the growing
drought conditions.

East Africans are feeling the effects of a disastrous drought and spiking food prices, and are facing conditions similar to those pictured, above, in Kenya in 2009. Photo by David Snyder for CRS

But now Kenya is being burdened further by an influx of tens
of thousands of refugees from Somalia; most are striking out in search of food because
dangers in Somalia limit humanitarian outreach. CRS staff members are visiting
a large and growing refugee camp in Dadaab in eastern Kenya and in surrounding
communities that are hosting refugees. Staff there are determining food, water
and sanitation needs.

In Ethiopia, the CRS-led Joint Emergency Operational Plan is
ramping up. Now feeding 400,000 people, it should reach 1 million beginning
this month.

Other CRS staff, including the Nairobi-based Emergency
Response Team, are working with Caritas Internationalis, government authorities
and other partners to design further responses.

"This drought comes as prices for staple foods are
increasing—in some cases, more than doubling in the past year," Gleeson says.

Many already spend a huge percentage of their income on
food. A rise in prices pushes them over the edge.

"These price increases strike particularly hard in
urban areas, where people must purchase all their food," Gleeson says. "In
non-drought conditions, rural farmers often benefit from rising food prices
because they can sell their crops for higher prices. But, right now they have
no crops to sell due to the drought. So they and their families are also
hurting."

Gleeson says that the crisis will likely worsen before it
eases with the October harvest.

"Many areas had very poor spring rains, so the harvest
will not be enough," he says. "And if the fall rains are not strong—or
fail again—then this crisis is going to get much, much worse."